Since the beginning of time men and women have sought to achieve flattering, fashionable hair styles. Everything from chemical treatments for long term alteration of the hair, "permanents" to short term rolling of the hair have been employed. Where temporary changes were sought, hair rollers were traditionally placed in wet hair. The hair was allowed to dry, setting the curl formed in the hair by wrapping the wet hair around the rollers. Unfortunately several hours were required for the hair to dry.
For quick fixes, hot rollers and curling irons evolved to temporarily wave and curl the hair to achieve desired hair styles quickly and easily. Early curling irons and crimping irons were placed in hot coals or a flame to sufficiently heat the metal before wrapping the hair around the heated rod or placing the hair between offset tines of the crimping iron. During the 60's and 70's, the early curling and crimping irons and wet hair rollers evolved into quick and easy to use electric hot rollers and curling irons of all shapes, sizes and configurations.
Modern day curling irons typically consist of a single long slender wand heated through the use of a heating element actuated by some type of power source, such as AC electrical current, batteries, or various types of disposable canisters of combustible gas, such as butane. The wand portion of the curling iron may be any one of many different diameters, may have bristles extending outwardly from the wand similar to a hair brush, or may have interchangeable wand shapes and sizes. Regardless of the number of interchangeable wands, the curling iron is capable of only heating one small section of hair at a time. Therefore, if the entire head of hair is to be curled, the time required to accomplish the task with a curling iron may be considerable.
Most present day hot rollers are contained within a case having a plurality of metal heating elements extending upwardly from a base with the heating elements actuated by some type of power source. The heating elements are heated at the same time allowing multiple rollers to be heated at once. The rollers may then be placed in the hair, and remain therein until the rollers have cooled, setting the crimp or curl in the hair. Because the rollers cool down once they are placed in the hair, they cannot be used to touch-up stray strands which may slip from the roller or to lightly curl portions of the hair where a tight curl is not desired, such as bangs or small tendrils of hair which are more suited to curling with a curling iron. Thus, hot rollers and curling irons are frequently used in combination, requiring that two separate pieces of equipment be heated and used to achieve a desired hair style.
Such situation becomes increasingly burdensome when traveling. The case containing the hot rollers takes up a considerable amount of room in the luggage. One or two curling irons may be required in addition to the rollers, thereby increasing the luggage weight and space required when travelling.